MiamiHerald.com: Borrowers Betrayed http://www.miamiherald.com/1422/index.html MiamiHerald.com: Borrowers Betrayed http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/1422/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2012 MiamiHerald.com Borrowers Betrayed 60 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:39 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com <![CDATA[Ex-convicts active in mortgage fraud]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876217/ex-convicts-active-in-mortgage.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876217/ex-convicts-active-in-mortgage.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST

When Scott Almeida walked out of federal prison and into the mortgage business, he took a gamble. He admitted on his license application that he had been convicted of cocaine trafficking.

]]> <![CDATA[Thousands with criminal records work unlicensed as loan originators]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876309/thousands-with-criminal-records.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876309/thousands-with-criminal-records.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST Gary Kafka, former body builder with a long rap sheet and violent past, wrote millions of dollars in mortgages in South Florida without ever applying for a state license.

]]> <![CDATA[State let crooked brokers keep working]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/08/10/876383/state-let-crooked-brokers-keep.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/08/10/876383/state-let-crooked-brokers-keep.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST When state regulators showed up at Samantha Johnson's mortgage company, she had already stolen her first house.

]]> <![CDATA[Home loan racket flourished in Florida]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/12/07/878194/home-loan-racket-flourished-in.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/12/07/878194/home-loan-racket-flourished-in.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST Orson Benn, once a vice president at the nations largest subprime lender, spent three years during the height of the housing boom tutoring Florida mortgage brokers in the art of fraud.

]]> <![CDATA[Case files of brokers]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/01/30/879895/case-files-of-brokers.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/01/30/879895/case-files-of-brokers.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:41 EST <a href="http://miamiherald.com/news/borrowers-betrayed"> < Click here to return to the full series</a> <br />

]]> <![CDATA[About the Herald investigation]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876242/about-the-herald-investigation.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876242/about-the-herald-investigation.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST The Miami Herald spent eight months examining the Office of Financial Regulation, the state agency responsible for regulating the mortgage industry in Florida.

]]> <![CDATA[Identity theft is no bar to keeping a broker license]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876220/identity-theft-is-no-bar-to-keeping.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876220/identity-theft-is-no-bar-to-keeping.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST Mortgage broker Brahms Alexis kept his state license for almost three years, even after Florida regulators and federal agents dragged him away from a closing in handcuffs.

]]> <![CDATA[For license renewals in Florida, no criminal background checks]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876228/for-license-renewals-in-florida.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876228/for-license-renewals-in-florida.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST At least 20 Florida mortgage brokers maintained their licenses even after committing the most obvious violation of public trust -- mortgage fraud.

]]> <![CDATA[A criminal past, a trail of new victims]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876235/a-criminal-past-a-trail-of-new.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876235/a-criminal-past-a-trail-of-new.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST Eighty-three-year-old W.C. Eckles limps around the outside of his house, pointing to the holes in his walls. He stuffs them with rags. He covers them with plywood. But wind, rain and mosquitoes still find their way through, tormenting his sleep, he said.

]]> <![CDATA[Who's watching the brokers]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876241/whos-watching-the-brokers.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/20/876241/whos-watching-the-brokers.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST The Office of Financial Regulation was created by the Florida Legislature to oversee the state's banks and securities and mortgage industries. This includes licensing mortgage brokers and mortgage lenders.

]]> <![CDATA[States act to license loan originators]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876317/states-act-to-license-loan-originators.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876317/states-act-to-license-loan-originators.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST To Illinois mortgage regulator Dean Martinez, too many loan people peddled home loans without licenses.

]]> <![CDATA[Florida regulators shun licensing for loan originators]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876329/florida-regulators-shun-licensing.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/07/21/876329/florida-regulators-shun-licensing.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28 EST With Florida's housing boom revving up, Joseph Falk, the national mortgage industry's top leader, went to Florida regulators in 2002 with an urgent plea: License all mortgage professionals.

]]> <![CDATA[Miami Beach real estate: Mark's Cleaners sells in Sunset Harbour]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/14/2501766/miami-beach-real-estate-marks.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/14/2501766/miami-beach-real-estate-marks.html Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:36 EST In another sign of the rapid change taking place in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood, Mark’s Cleaners has sold its property and is telling customers they will be relocated by Jan. 1

]]> <![CDATA[‘Shadow inventory’ of homes could topple real-estate recovery]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/15/2456154/shadow-inventory-of-homes-could.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/15/2456154/shadow-inventory-of-homes-could.html Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:52 EDT Officially, there are 3.5 million homes for sale nationwide. But there are millions more lurking in the shadows — hidden neatly away on banks’ balance sheets, stalled in foreclosure court proceedings, or simply occupied by nonpaying owners as lenders wait months or years before taking action.

]]> <![CDATA[South Florida No. 2 on mortgage fraud risk list]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/28/2289256/south-florida-no-2-on-mortgage.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/28/2289256/south-florida-no-2-on-mortgage.html Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:59 EDT South Florida's mortgage fraud risk index spiked 10 percent during the first part of the year, shooting the region to second place nationally for potential housing scams.

]]> <![CDATA[Banner Supply agrees to $54 million Chinese drywall settlement]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/14/2266111/banner-supply-agrees-to-54-million.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/14/2266111/banner-supply-agrees-to-54-million.html Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:27 EDT Banner Supply Co., the Miami-based firm that supplied the vast majority of Chinese drywall in Florida, has agreed to pay $54 million to settle claims.

]]> <![CDATA[Foreclosure homes starting to lose their appeal, data shows]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/26/2236147/foreclosure-homes-starting-to.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/26/2236147/foreclosure-homes-starting-to.html Thu, 26 May 2011 08:28 EDT Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined across South Florida during the first quarter, a result of the recent "robo signer" controversy and perhaps a changing sentiment among buyers, observers say.

]]> <![CDATA[Mortage broker sentenced in fraud]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/25/2085015/mortage-broker-sentenced-in-fraud.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/25/2085015/mortage-broker-sentenced-in-fraud.html Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:41 EST A Homestead mortgage broker arrested after being profiled in a Miami Herald investigative series was sentenced Friday for her role in defrauding two lenders.

]]> <![CDATA[Homes sell for as little as $200]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/10/1967232/homes-sell-for-as-little-as-200.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/10/1967232/homes-sell-for-as-little-as-200.html Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:13 EST Scores of Palm Beach County homes were sold to investors at foreclosure auction this month for as little as $200 following the collapse of the David J. Stern law firm and the ensuing confusion while thousands of its cases are reassigned.

]]> <![CDATA[Property managers make money off condos' insurance]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/13/1924072/property-managers-make-money-off.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/13/1924072/property-managers-make-money-off.html Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:01 EST Your property management company may be making money off your condo association's insurance policy.

]]> <![CDATA['Deadbeat' fights back against foreclosure process]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/20/1882478/deadbeat-fights-back-against-foreclosure.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/20/1882478/deadbeat-fights-back-against-foreclosure.html Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:25 EDT This deadbeat took on Wall Street, and Wall Street was cowed.

]]> <![CDATA[Bank of America forecloses home without a mortgage]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/23/1838326/bank-of-america-forecloses-home.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/23/1838326/bank-of-america-forecloses-home.html Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:12 EDT When Jason Grodensky bought his modest Fort Lauderdale home last December, he paid cash. But seven months later, he was surprised to learn that Bank of America had foreclosed on the house, even though Grodensky did not have a mortgage.

]]> <![CDATA[GMAC suspends foreclosure evictions and sales of seized property]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/21/1834885/gmac-suspends-foreclosure-evictions.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/21/1834885/gmac-suspends-foreclosure-evictions.html Tue, 21 Sep 2010 09:05 EDT Foreclosure evictions and homeowner lockouts have been halted by Ally Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage in 23 states including Florida as the nation's fifth-largest home loan servicer addresses legal challenges to its foreclosure procedures.

]]> <![CDATA[Next economic crisis looms: Commercial real estate defaults]]> http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/04/29/1024664/next-economic-crisis-looms-commercial.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/04/29/1024664/next-economic-crisis-looms-commercial.html Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:43 EDT Two years after fissures in the residential housing market gave way to a national collapse of home prices and sales, experts warn that the the commercial real estate market is next shoe to drop, bringing more woes to the battered economy. Thousands of commercial mortgages valued at hundreds of billions of dollars are approaching their renewal dates, and by some estimates, two out of every three no longer will meet the original loan conditions and won't be able to be refinanced.

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